Retailers may desire to use shelving units adaptable into a variety of configurations for displaying product.
The floor plans of convenience stores and other retail establishments may vary widely from location to location. Consequently, the space available for a particular product display will also vary widely. In such circumstances, it may be desirable to provide a product display or other type of shelving system that can be adapted quickly, easily, and/or inexpensively to fit the available space. Shelving systems including shelves with adjustable widths and/or depths may be used as product displays that are quickly, easily, and/or inexpensively tailored to fit the unique location where they will be used.
Adjustable shelving systems may also be useful when it becomes necessary to rearrange shelving in a particular location in response to changing needs, desires, or available space. For instance, convenience store operators may wish to rearrange product displays from time to time. Such rearrangement may be needed or desired in response to changing inventory, the installation of new equipment, rollout of a new product, or other changes affecting the amount of space available for a particular display. By using an adjustable shelving system, store operators may simply adjust the width and/or depth of the adjustable shelves to maximize the shelving area available for displaying product while avoiding the extra time and expense required to reconfigure a non-adjustable system, add additional product to the display, or purchase or obtain a new product display.
Previous adjustable shelves, such as the ones disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,332,548 and 6,142,321 both to West and both entitled ‘Adjustable Shelving Apparatus,’ may be formed from two halves, slidably joined together by a number of interlocking channel and groove structures. The channel and groove structures permit the shelf halves to slide relative to one another such that the widths of the shelves may be increased or decreased as desired. These previous shelf structures are limited in several ways, however, because the shelf structures cannot be adjusted without also modifying or reconfiguring accompanying structure supporting the shelf structures. Because both halves of the shelves move during adjustment, adjustment of the shelves may not be accomplished without disconnecting the shelves from the accompanying support structure or modifying the shelf or the support structure. Moreover, because both halves of the shelves slide relative to each other, adjustment of the shelves may not be done without disturbing product displayed on the shelf. Also problematically, previous adjustable shelves do not provide structures for the placement of advertisements, pricing information, product identifiers or other information on the shelf that does not have to be removed or repositioned during or after adjustment of the shelf width.
Cantilevered display shelves are also a popular and convenient way to display merchandise in a retail store environment. Typically, a vertical set of supports allows the shelves to be selectively positioned in a variety of heights and spacings.
Retailers may prefer to display different types of products in different orientations. Some products, for example, appear more enticing and are better displayed on a forward sloping shelf so that a perspective view of the product is available to the customer. Other products may preferably be displayed on a flat horizontal shelf due to varying marketing strategies or logistical requirements, for example due to product packaging configuration. Therefore, having an adjustable shelf would allow a retailer to accommodate both display styles with a single shelving unit. An adjustable shelf unit would also permit retailers to use the shelf unit in different configurations at different times to best suit the product being displayed.
Many existing adjustable display shelves involve complex or intricate structures to allow the adjustment of the display shelf, including numerous parts. Such designs make the adjustable shelves more difficult to produce and use. For example, special tooling may be required to manufacture the adjustable shelf, and if the manufacturer desires to change the slope angle of the shelf, the tooling may need to be readjusted. These tooling and design considerations add to the expense of such adjustable shelving units.
Existing adjustable shelf units may be difficult to use. A retailer desiring to switch a display shelf from a horizontal position to a forward sloping position may have to make laborious adjustments in order to do so. This causes increased labor costs for the retailer who must allot employee hours to make the appropriate adjustments. Alternatively, the retailer may simply forego the advantage the adjustable shelf attempts to provide in order to avoid making the adjustments.